By Kim Merrill, Sr. Computer Science Content Creator
The Khan Academy team is excited to announce the release of our new Intro to Computer Science course, which teaches the fundamentals of programming in Python. This course is packed with innovative features and engaging content, making it an ideal addition to beginner computer science classrooms for the 2024-25 school year. Here’s why this course is a game changer for both educators and learners.
What’s new and unique?
Our new course introduces students to programming through a series of projects that demonstrate the exciting ways programming can be applied to real-world problems. From building recommendation engines to modeling infectious diseases to templating web pages, students will build a diverse portfolio of projects that address relevant, real-world issues. Each unit presents a new theme such as simulations, data science, or game design, so that every student can connect with a motivation.
Drawing from a decade of industry experience, this course focuses on important skills that students will need outside of the classroom, including practical problem solving, collaboration, and program design. It spirals in debugging strategies, code-readability conventions, and design patterns, so that students learn how to write quality, future-proof code that works and can be used by others. The course also includes a rare program-design video series in which students work alongside a professional software engineer as they break down problems, define user requirements, and develop working prototypes.
How this course supports learners
Our modular programming challenges are designed to meet students at their individual learning edges, providing scaffolded instructions and continuous, automated feedback to ensure all students can progress without getting stuck. In addition, each challenge offers several open-ended extensions to spark students’ curiosity and push their knowledge even further.
Our instructional materials inline tons of interactive example programs that students can run, modify, and experiment with in order to develop a deeper understanding of each concept. Our CS community allows learners to seek help from expert volunteers, get inspired by others, and showcase their own creations in our program gallery.
Why educators should consider this course
Khan Academy’s Intro to Computer Science course is designed to get students coding from the very first lesson. Our custom, web-based development environment provides all the necessary tools for writing, running, and debugging code, eliminating the need for any time-consuming setup. This seamless user experience works across devices, allowing students to continue their learning on laptops, tablets, or mobile devices, whether they’re in school or at home.
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By Kim Merrill, Sr. Computer Science Content Creator The Khan Academy team is excited to announce the release of our new Intro to Computer Science course, which teaches the fundamentals of programming in Python. This course is packed with innovative features and engaging content, making it an ideal addition to beginner computer science classrooms for
The post Introducing Khan Academy’s New Intro to Computer Science Course with Python appeared first on Khan Academy Blog. Computing, Educators, News, content, khan academy, new features, software development Khan Academy Blog
